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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

So I saw a post that Cassandra Clare just announced yet another Shadowhunter series dubbed "TLH" – no official title yet.Wow.Don’t get me wrong, I loved The Mortal Instruments (the first 3 books), and until the Epilogue, I loved The Infernal Devices.But she had already announced a third series called The Dark Artifices.And she announced The Bane Chronicles (okay, not really a series, because it’s just a few short stories that will be available as e-books, but still).Isn’t that a lot of the Shadowhunter world?I mean, I love the world, that why I’ve loved both series so far, but I kind of feel like she’s going to ruin it all because she’s going to keep milking it until people get annoyed and stop buying it.

But I really don’t think that’s what bothers me most.What bothers me most is that it feels like she just gets bored with what she’s writing. Why else would you announce so many series at the same time?She’s currently still writing City of Heavenly Fire, the final book in the second part of The Mortal Instruments series.And she’s already announced The Dark Artifices (and already character names, etc). And she announced The Bane Chronicles a while back (and I believe they’re all going to be released this year).And she’s also writing The Magisterium series with another author!How does she have enough time in the day to write all of these?Even if she had them planned, I wish she wouldn’t announce it.Because now it just seems to me that she’s not focusing on what she’s currently writing, which means the story is going to suffer.Perhaps that’s why the ending of Clockwork Princess was so awful.She was already going on to the next thing and didn’t really think about the impact.Sure, I read the post (and even posted it here) about her reasoning behind the Epilogue, but I still didn’t buy it even after reading it.I just feel as an author, she should only be writing one or two things at a time. It’s already hard enough to release one book in a year.But she’s writing so many things (which sure, probably are not all going to release at the same time), but she’s thinking about them, so if she’s ANYTHING like my husband, she’s writing notes and whatnot as thoughts pop into her mind about that new series – which then will take her focus away from what she’s writing.Oh, and let’s not forget the other side projects she’s going like The Shadowhunter’s Codex and Shadowhunters and Downworlders.I mean, really, how many projects does one author need going on at a time?

I don’t know how much of these I’ll read.Obviously I will finish out The Mortal Insturments.I want to see how it ends…again.I’ve read books 4 and 5, so I’m not going to end it there.And I really like Jace, so I’ll read just for him (though I really hated what happened to him in book 5).But as far as The Dark Artifices and TLH go, I’m not sure.I might be more likely to read TLH only because I think it will follow Will’s children’s generation.But if his kids aren’t in it, then I probably won’t.And The Dark Artifices sounds kind of cool because I think it will be somewhat fun to see Clary and Jace and Alec and Isabelle when they’re older pop into the story, even though they’re not the main characters.But I’m not sure.I’ll probably read some of The Bane Chronicles, depending on how expensive the ebooks are – I don’t like paying for ebooks, especially when they’re really short.So we’ll see.

I’m just getting sick of her milking it.I don’t want her to ruin a world I love.She built a great world, great characters.Just leave it alone now and let it stay being great.Quit while you’re ahead.

I know readers always wish that authors would continue writing in a world they’ve fallen in love with, or request more sequels be written – but honestly, they usually stop.And for good reason. You as a reader still love the series.And after a couple weeks, you’ll find a new book, and forget the other world that you just read. And then all you do is look back on that book with fond memories.Clare isn’t going to do that.She’s going to lose fans because people get sick of the same world.At least The Infernal Devices was unique because it was set in a completely different time period – so even though it was the same Shadowhunter world, the setting was very different.But now she’s meshing all the generations, and nothing will be unique.Learn from other authors.Quit while you’re ahead and write something different.The readers will still buy your books even if they’re not set in the Shadowhunter world.

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comments:

I totally understand what you're saying, and I agree with it as well. A lot of the people that I say this to kind of get offended because they love her books. And I'm not saying that I don't, I really enjoyed the 2 series that I've read, but like you said, it seems as if she's so ready to move onto writing another book.

The vibe I get from her as well is almost as if she just wants to make money from all these people who love reading about this world, and that way, they will buy the books she's writing.

I'm not saying that these books won't be better than what's already out, but I really don't want to support her anymore because it feels like she just wants money. Maybe that's not the truth, but it's kind of how I'm feeling.

A lot of people are criticizing the way that we're not basing our judgments on any substantial proof, but honestly, she's not even one of my favourite authors anymore. City of Fallen Angels and CoHF were both pretty bad in my opinion. I rated them high at first because I was blinded by my passion for the first three books, but looking back at them, they weren't all that good.

Thanks for the comment, Leanne! I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. I haven't read any of the Bane Chronicles books that have been released yet, though I've seen a couple friends on goodreads rating them high. I just can't spend $2.99 on each ebook! There are 10 of them - so that would be $30??? I never would spend that much on a book!! Again, to me, that seems like more proof of milking the fans financially. Why else wouldn't you just publish it like a regular book? Even if it's just ebook format, just publish them all together. But she makes a LOT more money this way.

And I agree with you on your thoughts on City of Fallen Angels and CoHF. I rated them high when I first read them too, but looking back, they weren't that good. I actually am pretty frustrated with book 5, so hopefully she pulls it back to being good with the final book. But I really feel as if these books suffered because of the many, many projects she has going all at the same time. She wasn't able to focus on one book and make it really good.

Thanks again for the comment. I really enjoy talking with people about these things! Hope to see you around again!